The Second Round
by fanfic.addicted01
Summary: I couldn't help myself: after some break I had to continue my previous fanfiction :) This story will follow the girls' group. What will happen with them, after their mixed group could find the way out of the Maze? Spoilers: the story is based upon the "Scorch Trials" book. Alert: strong language will be used in this fanfiction and I'll not change that, sorry.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello readers! :) After some break, here is the continue of _Different Angles_. I thought a lot about this story. Should I write it down? And what will be the story? I want to follow the Scorch Trials from word to word or I change the happenings a little? After all the thinking I decided, I'll do this story and also change it a little. The base is still the second book of the Maze Runner series, but I had some ideas and I also changed some places - mostly because I've read the books long time ago and I cannot remember the places' exact look, sorry. So maybe buildings and scenes will be different. But I still hope, you'll enjoy to read it :)**

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><p>She sat silently next to Newt on the bus. Literally grabbed his arm and felt if she releases it she will be lost in this new and frightening world. After their very-very long night Zera thought the worst was behind them. The fight with the Grievers was merciless, lots of Gladers died in that battle. Thomas and Teresa did their part, used the passwords and led them out of the Maze. They've met the Creators but didn't have the time to ask questions: Gally was with the woman who spoke to them, but he acted strangely. Suddenly pulled out a knife and threw it toward Thomas but Chuck stepped in front of him. It killed the poor boy. Thomas totally lost himself and almost beat Gally to death and after that just cried. Zera knew this pain. Right after that people arrived. People with guns and started to shoot. The chaos was huge and she was terrified. This was too new to her and couldn't react anything. These people said everything will be all right and they are all safe now. Somehow she doubted that.<p>

Finally the bus stopped. She was half asleep by that time; her head was fallen on Newt's shoulder. On the road one of their saviors told things in nutshell. The Earth was ruined by a huge sun flare. The climate went crazy, people died in starvation, in the city's places there is nothing more just desert. But that was just the beginning. A human made virus got out and roamed freely in the middle of the chaos. The humans call it the Flare. It eats your brain away, you'll become an animal. After the Gone you start to kill everyone who is not infected. And there is no cure. It sounded some kind of crazy zombie movie.

WICKED was formed to solve this problem. She, Newt and every one of them was their lab rats. They watched their brains closely and tried to find the cure with their help. But nobody asked them first, nobody was interested in their opinion. They ruined their childhood; they couldn't be a normal teenager. But, as she looked through the window she wondered: Is anything still normal out there?

The saviors led them into a house. First they went into the kitchen and got some pizza. Zera watched the others as she ate and some of them already felt themselves in totally safe. When everybody finished the meal, the adults showed their bedrooms.

"Girls and boys are separated. Don't get any hope boys." he winked. Zera looked at Newt. She didn't want to be keep away from her group members in an unfamiliar place. That would be the best if they keep together and deal with stuffs together. Newt saw this in her eyes. Reached out and touched her arm in reassurance.

"Everything will be okay, darling. I will be here in the morning. Not going anywhere."

Zera looked at their host who smiled at her. This bugged Zera. She didn't trust him or anyone of the others, not for a second.

"Just be careful." she said.

He smiled at her warmly, if like it was nothing to be aware of.

"I will." answered. He smoothed his hand downward on her arm and then she let the stranger to lead them into another room.

In the next morning she knew she had to listen to her instincts. Because when she woke up a bunch of crazy people attacked the windows and the boys were nowhere to be found.

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><p><strong>This was a really short first chapter :O <strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**The first chapter was so short I really had to upload the second on the same day. Let's see ch 2 :) I also found a way how I can separate different paragraphs, yay :D**

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><p>It was the noise what woke her up. The screamings and snarlings and the shaking window grates. Her eyes popped open and she was ready to defend herself if she had to, but nobody attacked. The noise came from outside.<p>

The others were awake as well and didn't understand anything. They went to look what was happening. When they saw them they backed off in fear.

"What the hell are these?" somebody asked. A horde of people were at the windows. They were dirty, bloody and had bunch of injuries. And they screamed non-stop. They screamed about how they will kill them, eat them and tear them apart. But some of them screamed two words only.

"KILL ME!"

o0o

"Let's found the others" Harriet said after some moments. Her face reflected disgust and horror. The girls headed toward the other room which was the boy's bedroom last night. As the crazy noises faded the silence was suddenly heavy. Harriet looked at Sonya then knocked on the door.

"Thomas? Minho? Are you there?" Nobody answered. She reached out for the door knob and opened it. "Boys?" asked as she stepped into the room which was totally empty. Zera stepped in right behind her. When she saw nobody was here she turned around to check the house other parts as well.

"Newt!" she called him. He was missing too.

They searched them in the whole house. Look through everything, opened every door they could. When they found a closed one, they simply broke in. That was the way, how they found the bodies: reached a closed door, and broke down the door knob. The door opened, they stepped in. Zera tried to see something in the total darkness. She knew this was the room, where they ate last night. Why was it closed anyway? Somebody searched for the light switch, when she found it and light filled the room and Zera knew instantly why was it closed. As they looked up, they saw bodies which were hanged down from the ceiling. She felt herself sick, some girls ran out of the room and some got sick right then and there.

"Where are they?" somebody asked. Harriet called for a Gathering in the living room. Confused girls stood and sat around her. When finally silence fell on them the leader started to talk.

"It seems the boys are gone. Probably the WICKED took them away."

After the shock of the crazy, attacking people and the death ones in the so called dining room the girls were almost emotionless to this news. They cared, they just couldn't freak out again.

"Also we can't go outside: The lock is closed and there are metal bars on the windows."

"What are we going to do?"

"We wait. Cannot do anything else. Let's hope WICKED will be in touch soon."

o0o

Zera sighed as she locked the bathroom's door. Harriet, Sam, Sonya and she talked about this before the Gathering and none of them could think anything better. They had to wait. But there was a little problem: They didn't find any food. She leaned on the sink and stared herself in the mirror. Why everything had to be this complicated? Where were the boys? What happened with them? Is everybody all right? What about Newt? She was so worried. She knew Newt was a big boy now and could take care after himself, but still... She sighed again and rubbed her neck. With that move she spotted something on her skin. She pulled back her shirt to have a better look on that. It looked like a tattoo and contained three sentences.

"Property of WICKED. Subject B8, The Hunter. Not compatible with the Glue."

o0o

There was a big crowd around the mirrors. Everybody wanted to check their necks. Every girl got a tattoo of their own. Most of them contained just the "Property of WICKED." line and their number. But some of them had more information. For example Harriet, Sonya, Teresa and Sam. Harriet was the "Leader", Sonya was the "Advisor", Teresa was the "Betrayer" and Sam was the "Bridge". She was also "Compatible with the Leader."

"Compatible with the Leader? What is that mean?" Sam asked when she was able to read her tattoo in the mirror.

"I don't know. Mine says 'Not compatible with the Glue.' What Glue? What is that or who is that?"

"The Bridge" Sam repeated "This should be mean something like Harriet's word?"

"Probably they mean you are the one who brought the boys and the girls together. You were the first who talked with Minho about the Maps back in the Maze, remember? You are the bridge. The two group's bridge." Zera answered.

"Flattered."

Zera just smiled faintly at that.

She thought of Teresa. The Betrayer... She will betray somebody? Them? After all she was the last one who was sent by WICKED and she could remember things in the Maze. Zera didn't trust her for the first time also, but now her instincts literally screamed. Harriet was suspicious too; Zera could see it in her eyes. They have to keep an eye on her.

After their discovering they couldn't do anything else. Everybody fell into silence and thinking about the happenings on their own. They had to wait for now.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 is arrived :) I still follow the book, but soon changes will coming ;)**

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><p>Emptiness. Hunger. Tiredness. The days slowly faded away. She just lay in the bed and tried to lose as less energy as she could. She never experienced the starvation before. Or she just couldn't remember it. Who knew what happened before the Maze? As long as she could remember they always had food. So not have any and being hungry was kind of new experience to her. And it wasn't fun at all. The first two days she was hungry. Her body literally screamed after the food. They looked everywhere but still didn't find anything. On the third day the feeling of the empty stomach was gone, but the girls lost their energy. They were sleepy, rarely moved, lay all the time and slept. Zera quit even the thinking. She just stared at the wall or slept. Moved when she really had to, like using the bathroom.<p>

The days went by uncounted. They waited. Nothing happened. Maybe they will die here from starvation. Maybe WICKED waited for the time when the girls start to eat each other? They enjoyed watching them suffering? Zera was quite sure about that. What are they waiting for? What do they want? Why are they doing this with them?

Her nose woke her up from her dreamless sleep. This was definitely some kind of fruit. Maybe an apple? Yes, that was an apple. An unbelievably delicious apple, a huge, red, sweet apple, an apple which she didn't have. Now she started to dream with food? That is just great. The smell was so strong it seemed almost real. Oh God she could kill for an apple!

"Wake already up you shank!"

Harriet? She forced herself to open her eyes.

"Shank, really?" Zera asked annoyed as she looked at her. She wanted to say something else but her eyes caught something Harriet held in her hand: food. It was really an apple, wasn't red but green, but still: food! Harriet handed it to her and Zera gave it a huge bite and munched happily on it.

"You are disgusting when you are eating, really."

Zera ignored her as she ate all up from the fruit and searched for more.

"Here" her leader gave her another apple "But eat it slower this time or you throw it all up."

Zera listened to her and forced herself to take it slow.

"Where did you get this from?"

"We found it in the dining room with a man who is from WICKED. He said he has some information to us but he will spoke with us when the time is right."

"I am so tired of WICKED's game."

"Me too. But we have to play along. They have food, we haven't. We cannot even go out from this house. We need their support now."

After Zera finished her apple she followed Harriet to the WICKED man. The others surrounded around a pack of food which contained nuts, fruits and dried fruits. Zera looked at it with heavy heart. Yes, this was something, but they needed meat and carbohydrate. They need energy. As she looked forward she saw him. A reading man was sitting in the room's end."We tried to go to him, but there is a wall between him and us. Otherwise he wouldn't read that peacefully..." Harriet snarled.

"A wall?"

"It's invisible."

"An invisible wall?"

"Don't look at me like that! It's WICKED's stuff."

Zera shrugged and grab something to eat. After twenty minutes everybody finished the eating and looked expectantly at the man. Some of them said he reminded them to a rat. Zera agreed with this. Only thing was that rats are cute. He was far from being cute. Soon he marked his book, closed and put it away, then looked at them and stood up.

"Thank you for waiting on a so civilized way. I am here to inform you about the next stage in this experiment.

As you already know, our world has changed and you also know about the Flare. We are trying to find the cure for it and you are helping us a lot. We are monitoring you for a long time, watching you and your brain's activity too. We believe if we could do a map about the human brain we will find the cure too. But to do that we have to put you through some situations."

"Situations? Lock us inside a Maze with boys and Grievers who try to kill us every fucking night is a situation to you?!" Sam interrupted angrily.

"I understand if this makes you angry. But we have to do this for a greater good."

This caused a huge noise. The girls started to shout some nasty things to the man about WICKED, their experiment and situations. Zera stayed silent and waited for the others calm down. When Harriet could calm them down she opened her mouth and asked.

"What WICKED did with the boys?"

The Rat Man looked at her.

"We wanted to separate the two groups for a reason. Don't worry, they are all being well."

"Will we meet them again?" this time Harriet wanted the answer.

"It depends on you. If you do exactly as I say, then yes."

When not more questions were answered he continued.

"You all have the Flare by now. If you wanna be cured you have to travel to a place which is called the Safe Heaven."

"Cured? There is no cure for it, you said that."

"We are almost done with the work. By the time you reach the Safe Haven we will finish it."

Silence fell upon them. After some thinking Harriet asked.

"What we have to do?"

o0o

Zera grabbed her things together. They packed away the food and got as much water as they could. The Rat Man gave them backpacks, bottles and weapons too. But she wasn't happy about it.

When she asked after the boys Zera hoped some kind of positive answer. When the Rat Man said if they follow WICKED's rules they will see them again she was relieved. But things were not the same as she imagined it.

As the Rat Man got into the details she started to dislike this trial more and more. First they have to walk through a desert. They need to do 100 miles until they reach the Safe Heaven where they can seek help. But before that they have a bonus mission: They have to meet with the boys and kidnap Thomas, take him with them and then kill him.

This caused an instant argument. All of the girls said no to it. They didn't want to kidnap one of their friends and kill him. He was the one who led them out of the Maze. But after the Rat Man gave the last tiny piece of information: If they don't kill him, WICKED will kill all of the girls.


	4. Chapter 4

**I finished ch 4 :) And I see you start to follow this story too and that makes me utterly happy! :D**

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><p>Zera was almost done with the packing when Harriet stepped to her.<p>

"Do you have a moment?"

"Of course" Zera turned to her "What's the problem?"

"Come with me." and with that she turned around. Zera followed her into a room. Sam, Sonya and Teresa were already there. Harriet closed the door behind them.

"What is this about?" Zera asked slightly confused as her gaze followed their leader, who joined to them. They stood in a circle.

"I ask you to come here to discuss a problem. We all heard what the Rat Man said. We have to kill Thomas or else we all perish."

They all stood in silence. Zera tried to not think about it.

"But the problem is I don't want to do that. I can't do that with Thomas. He is one of us, he is our friend. But I also want to protect you, protect the girls. I am your leader and this is my job."

"You don't have to do it." Zera interrupted "We will figure out something. Just find the boys and together we solve the problem."

"We don't know where they are, don't know who their leader is now after Alby died. We don't know a thing about them." Sonya said.

"It would be too risky Zera. This is WICKED. How can we destroy them? They have Grievers and crazy people in their pockets and we have a few bows and arrows. No, I cannot put your lives in danger like that."

"Then what is your idea?" she was suspicious. Why was Teresa here anyway?

"We have a plan. Well, mostly Teresa's. She volunteered to do what she has to. I step down as a leader and she takes my place. She knows WICKED more than we do and she can do what we have to."

Zera didn't say anything for a moment.

"That's cowardice. You are a simply coward."

Harriet looked onto the ground and then back to her.

"I hoped you will agree on this and accept Teresa as a new leader and help her to be accepted by the others too."

"Are you totally out of your mind? This is the worst idea I have ever heard. If you want my approval, then you didn't have it."

"Zera, please! This is our only choice."

"No! This is your only choice to avoid this problem! You don't want to deal with killing Thomas so you found somebody else who can do it! I was never so disappointed in you Harriet."

"You are right!" Harriet shouted at her "I don't want to do it! I can't do it! If I lead the girls and I'll stand eye to eye with Thomas and have to kill him I will fail and with that we are all dead! But before you start judging me Zera, ask yourself: Could you do it? If you could then go, take my place."

"Then why her? Why she is the solution? You let her kill Thomas but you say you couldn't do it yourself? You are still a coward and a murderer."

"So, you think we can escape from this? We cannot Zera! I tried to think everything, everything what can I do to save him, but I couldn't solve the problem! We cannot defeat or trick WICKED and I don't let them kill the girls because of one person. Even if it is Thomas." There was a silence for a moment. "So the situation is: I told you this because I want you to understand my motives and give Teresa all the support she needs. But she will take my place with or without your help."

Zera looked at her with eyes glowing with anger. In that moment she could hit Harriet. Zera didn't want Teresa as a leader, she didn't trust her and she didn't even know her. But right now she had no choice, the decision was already made.

"Fine. Be it. But I am not happy about it."

"I don't care about your happiness; I care about your support. The girls trust you and if you support Teresa, they will support her too. And if you wanna see Newt again in your life you do this, happy about it or not."

That hit Zera. As the things seemed to be, Harriet was right. Now she had to choose between her friend and love. And she chose Newt.

_"I'm so sorry Thomas."_

After their mini-Gathering Harriet decided she will not announce the news right now; they had to do it slowly. The girls had too many things to worry. And Teresa was still the new girl. She needed time to change that.

All of them grabbed their belongings and faced the wall in the dining room. As the Rat Man said ahead of them was a flat trans; a teleporting gate. They walk through that and it lead them their next destination where they can start Phase 2; the Second Trial.

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><p><strong>The happenings are begin :P I never thought Harriet ever let Teresa to lead the girls without a really good reason or Teresa could defeat her in a combat so the only solution to me was that they agreed in switching positions. BTW, this is another awkwardly short chapter. Damn.<strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm so sorry for the long wait... busy month and I have to find my mood after the long Christmas brake... I don't know about this chapter. I fall out from my writing method, I found difficult to find the inspiration to keep going... but I started to miss my girls :) So I have to keep going :) I hope this chapter will fit in the line and you will enjoy it as well :)**

**BTW thanks for the new favs dear readers even if I didn't update as soon as I promised and thought I will, the story still got a few follower :)**

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><p>The heat was unbearable as they opened the door to reach the surface. In the last 30 minutes the girls walked through a dark corridor. Now they reached its end and found their way up. But when they opened the door the light and heat was killing them.<p>

"Close it back!" somebody screamed to Harriet who did it. She gave 1-2 minute to their eyes to recover than opened it again just a little bit. After some time a little more and more and soon the door opened fully. Their leader looked at them.

"Let's go girls." and with that she climbed up into the light. The others followed her and soon everybody was next to her.

Zera felt herself like she was in a big frying pan. The temperature was really high and her eyes started to tear from the strong light.

"It's time to put on the sheets." Harriet ordered. After the Rat Man mentioned the desert the girls grabbed the sheets from the beds to protect their skin from the sunrays. They covered their bodies in the sheets then pick up the backpacks and weapons.

"Now, here is the plan: We keep walking until the temperature is too high. When this happens we make some kind of nest from the sheets and try to rest until the evening. When the night falls, we pack our stuff together and continue our mission."

Everybody agreed on this and their long walking had begun. Soon enough Zera was exhausted. She was in good shape, but still the temperature and the Sun did their work. After some hour Harriet ordered their first brake. They sat down in a long dead tree and some big rock's shadow. Zera waited for Harriet to asking her to help to the younger girls who were too exhausted, but she asked Teresa instead of her. She knew her leader did this with purpose, but still she felt jealousy inside of her. Food and water was unpacked and everybody ate and drank a little. Then just lay down, tried to get some comfort and slowly fell into sleep.

Zera lay on the hard, stony ground and tried to quit thinking, but she failed. She needed some rest, knew that just well, but her brain was on fire. What will happen with them? How she will find Newt? They are really going to kill Thomas? No, she had to stop that. She couldn't accept that is the only solution. WICKED playing its sick games with them all the time... Maybe they are just bluffing to see how they will react. But what if they don't... Could she put in danger everybody's lives? As she stared to the others her gazed found Sam who lay further, away from them. As she wondered why, Zera realized; not she is the only one who lost her loved one. She didn't know exactly what was between her friend and Minho, but they were really close to each other recently. Probably Sam was also just as worried for Minho as she was for Newt.

Zera was awake for a while but the temperature was high, the walking and the Sun stole away her strength and finally she fell asleep with dreams about WICKED, Thomas, Teresa and monsters.

xXx

It was dawn when they heard something for the first time. Something was moving ahead of them. Harriet stopped. She looked back at her helpers; Sam and Zera stepped next to her and Sonya.

"Maybe it is some kind of animal." Sam said as she tried to see something in the dim light. Everything was grey; the Sun just started to rise above the horizon.

"I don't think so. We didn't see any living creature in this hell beside us."

Zera silently agreed with Sonya. That wasn't an animal. She looked back at the girls; they walked whole night, they were tired and their mind screamed for some sleep, their inner clock just freaked out. They had really bad chances in an eye-to-eye combat.

Harriet wanted to say something but the noise kept coming closer and closer with big speed. The Group B members tried their best; the girls grabbed their weapons and waited for the attack. As they heard the noises it wasn't only one thing but there were more of it and soon figures stepped out the greyness.

They were humans. Or they used to be. Their clothes were dirty and worn, their skin bore scars and dirt too. Some of them had really unsettling glisten in their eyes. It was like if they looked some kind of tasty food, not a group of girls. One of them stepped forward. It was a woman. Her hair was reddish brown once, but now it was sticky from the grime. Her clothes was torn, her skin was dark and dirty. But the others had respect for her. She just stood there first, then started to speak.

"What are a bunch of kids doing here so early?" Her voice was strong and calm, but Zera got goose bumps from it. She could sense danger just like back in the Maze when she hunted for Grievers. There were a short moment before the attack, when everything was silent, but also full of tense. She felt something similar. _"Don't trust her. Something is wrong with them."_

"We have business here." Harriet tried to sound as confident as she could but she desperately failed. They didn't have any idea where were they going or where were the boys or what they had to do at all. Damn, they didn't know a thing about surviving in a desert!

"Nobody have business here. It's Crank-land you didn't knew stupid girl?" laughed a man behind their leader. Zera looked questioningly _"Crank?" _None of them knew this word.

"As I see you are not familiar here. Come with us girls... We show you around."

"No thank you." now Harriet's voice was firm.

"You didn't understand me... It wasn't a request."

"I think you didn't get my message. We are not going anywhere with you and your... people."

"People... That is soooo sweet." laughed the woman "You didn't know the Cranks? Well where were you before? Nobody told about the people who got the virus and slooooowly went crazy as hell? Sooo crazy... They are not humans anymore. They are animals. Hungry animals who eat each other... And others too." The strangers are laughed at this almost hysterically. They sounded like hyenas. "Where were we? Oh yes I invited our guests to our place, but they refused to come! That's rude! So rude... In the end you all come with us. If not willingly then with force." and she already reached for Harriet. Zera's instincts kicked in and grab the first weapon she could find - a bow - and she pointed an arrow to the Crank-lady.

"If you touch her I'll shoot this arrow across your heart."

She looked surprised. Probably this wasn't the usual reaction she gets all the time when she threatens somebody, but Zera didn't care. She faced Grievers for a hundred times and will not back off because of a bunch of crazy humans.

"If you do it my friends will kill you all."

"Great! Then my friends will kill as many of yours they can, before you could finish the work. Doesn't matter. At the end WICKED will got what it wants."

Something happened. She flinched and looked... terrified? The woman hesitated for a moment.

"What did you say? REPEAT IT!"

Okay, the situation started to be really frightening now.

"DO IT!"

"I said WICKED will win and doesn't matter if we all die. Go ahead. Attack us."

"You are with WICKED?" she whispered.

"We are."

She looked confused and scared at the same time. Mumbled something, she grabbed her hair and pulled it. Zera's arm started to shake from the tiredness because she kept the bow ready for a shoot, but she was too afraid to let it down now. Suddenly the woman stopped mumbling released her hair and screamed from the top of her lungs.

"GO TO THE HELL! GO AWAY! GO FAR AWAY FROM HERE AND LEAVE US ALONE! WICKED KILLED US! WICKED KILLED US!"

She rushed forward to hit Zera but she missed. The girls didn't need more, they started to run. The Cranks pursued them for awhile but not too long; they just tried to scare them away. Their plan worked; the girls ran frightened and ran as fast as they could. Maybe it was her imagine, but Zera could hear the woman's screaming behind them.

_"WICKED KILLED US."_

xXx

_"You are not the only one."_

Harriet didn't stopped since the morning's happenings. She tried to lead the girls as far as she could even that means to walk all day and night without any break.

The words haunted Zera. She remembered now the Rat Man's words about the Flare and the craziness it caused. She expected something else... Not a walking, talking, _planning _humans. They were crazy yes, but in the other hand they were intelligent. They weren't pure animal like; they talked to them, had enough brain to put words together and _talk _or _make plans _about kidnapping them and... eat them maybe? She didn't want to think about it. They also lived in a group and had some kind of rank system, a hierarchy. Had their leader and maybe co-leaders too. Maybe their structure wasn't so different than theirs...

She wanted to finish this freaking experiment. She wanted Newt beside her and then just leave everything behind. As Zera looked to the horizon and didn't see anything else just rocks and sand she swore she will do everything she can to survive this. She survived the Maze already. She is the Hunter. This is what she do; she'll hunt them down. Kill anything she has to.

_"I will find you. Never give up and find you."_


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi dear readers :) I am so sorry, but this one is not my greatest chapter. I wasn't in the right mood, I really struggled with this one, oh my I hate this chapter! I didn't want to write it longer than I needed to, because I have some idea, but I want to put those in the following chapters, not in this one. But I promise in the next one will happen something. I have plans, I just have to clear them up a little and - I hope - everything will be all right :) I also need to find my mood to keep going - maybe I re-watch the film and I'll finish the 4th book. I have to keep motivated. Hoping, hoping...**

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><p>The following days were silent. The girls didn't meet with the Cranks again, but they were alarmed. Harriet asked the former Runners to be their scouts. The Runners went ahead for a while then returned and reported what they saw.<p>

In these past days Zera watched the girls who slowly started to lose the hope. They thought they will find freedom beyond the Maze's walls, but instead of that they found a ruined world and didn't saw the road's end. Sometimes even she believed they never will be free of WICKED's grasp. They will die like lab rats. Maybe they never were more than lab rats.

When Harriet asked Zera to be her pathfinder she didn't argue with her. In fact she was somehow happy because of it; she felt herself useful again. But with time she could see what was Harriet intentions; she wanted to keep her away from Teresa, who became more and more confident and the others also accepted her. Soon she will take Harriet's place as a leader. This still bothered Zera but the fact Harriet sent her away literally hurt her. It felt like a betrayal to her. But Zera concentrated on her task. The girls need to reach the Safe Heaven. They need help. She needs to find Newt. But first of all: They need to refill their food and water. They were running out from them already.

xXx

"Do you miss him?"

The question startled Zera. It was late night; she and Sam were at their exploring tour. Zera used to go out with Sam, but her friend was really quite nowadays.

"Who do you talking about?" she asked back confused.

"Newt."

Zera stopped. They were walking in the night and try to spare the water. Hearing the name, this name was so sudden. Zera faced so many problems since they met with the Cranks, she didn't have the time to think about Newt. Now, missing him hit her hard.

"Yes. Yes I do. Terribly."

Sam looked to the ground. "I miss Minho too. I hope... They are all right. What if they also met the Cranks? What if they hurt them? What if Minho is..."

"Don't think like that Sam! Minho is strong and he knows what he is doing. He is the Keeper of the Runners, remember?" Zera tried to give hope to her friend but Sam looked at her with fear in her eyes.

"I just don't want to lose him Zera. I really don't!"

"Hey girl, don't do that. We have to keep going. If we stop and think about what could happen with them we just give up. But we cannot give up Sam!" We have to stay alive and then find them. Just be strong for him, 'kay girl?"

Sam sniffed and held back her tears then nodded.

"Okay then. Listen: Do you remember what the Rat Man said? If we do exactly as he told us we will meet them again. So this means they are here too somewhere. And as I see they don't have many options where they can go, so I think we are going into the same direction. Maybe they are ahead of us."

"Do you really think that?"

"Yes Sam, I do."

That was a lie of course. Maybe WICKED captured them, maybe they needed their help, maybe... Maybe the things were otherwise, but Zera needed Sam to keep going. And she also had to believe her own words. If they had to kidnap Thomas, the boys needed to be around. Somewhere. And maybe they didn't know what are the girls are up to.

xXx

The following day they spotted buildings in the daylight. This caused a huge excitement between them. Harriet gave the order: They walked toward the city. Zera felt the excitement in her too, but she also felt fear. What will wait for them between those buildings?

As they got closer and closer, the buildings seemed to be bones in the desert. Zera wanted to take the Runners and go closer, but Harriet said no. The Sun almost reached the zenith on the sky, and the heat was unbearable. They needed to hide from the rays and Harriet feared if she let go the Runners, they will die out there. Zera couldn't do anything, just watched how Harriet and Teresa co-ordinate the others to take some rest and somehow this caused a bitter taste in her mouth.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi again :) I'm late again - sorry. I am really busy with work and full of stress right now. But I had some time today and wanted to upload chapter 7 to you :) I checked it, but I was so sleepy, so I hope this chapter still makes some sense. That would be awesome, really :D**

* * *

><p>At the end of the day they reached the first buildings of the town. It seemed to be deserted, but they were smarter to believe this. As soon as they walked forward between the buildings, the noises started.<p>

When a group of people walked out slowly from the shadows, the girls weren't surprised. A smaller man stepped in front of them – another leader. It seemed the Cranks were the kings and queens of this place.

Harriet was surprisingly calm as she stepped forward to meet him. Maybe she was too tired of everything and didn't give a shit what will happen or she just knew they cannot leave this city without eating, drinking, filling up their supplies and resting. The man seemed to be grumpy and not fully normal, but he was less crazy than the Crank-lady was back in the sand-sea. However some of his friends looked like they already lost their brains.

The talking between the two leaders took too long and the girls started to worry. As Zera watched the Cranks, they seemed to be inpatient. Probably they wanted to eat them and didn't understand why their leader still talks with their food. After long minutes Harriet faced her group and walked back to them. Zera let out a big breath that she didn't realized she held in.

"Well?" she asked and tried to sound as calm as she could, when Harriet stopped next to them.

"His name is Jorge. He is the leader of this Crank-group. I asked his permission to stay here for one night and refill our bags. He agreed in this and he'll give us some food and water from their supply."

"Why would he do that?" Sonya asked.

"Because I mentioned WICKED, which seems to be the magic word here. And I also asked about the boys. They didn't saw them, but they were very interested in them."

"Are you totally crazy? You just handled over the boys on a silver plate!" Sam hissed to her leader angrily.

"Back off Sam! I didn't do such a thing. I just asked if they saw them. They said no and added we were the first living, non-crazy human thing around, since ages. We don't know where the boys are. Maybe they will avoid this city."

Sam wasn't happy with that answer, she stayed silent after all, but she gave an angry look to Harriet. Zera give this one to Harriet: she needed to earn Jorge's trust to keep themselves alive. If this meant to talk about the boys, then be it. They are also survivors and can deal with the Crank-problem as well.

Soon the girls found themselves between the Cranks and they lead them to their food storage. Eat some cold tins and also packed them away with some bottles of water too. There were some friendlier and less crazy Cranks, like that blonde girl, Brenda. She even talked with them and Zera almost labelled her nice. Almost. After their small dinner some of the girls asked some questions about what happened with the world or the Flare or WICKED, some of them already prepared to sleep. It wasn't fully dark yet and Zera wanted to be alone a little, so, she sneaked just a few meters away. As she walked without a destination, but she still stayed close to the others, she spotted something on the wall in front of her. It was a text and it got her attention because it was weird. It didn't fit here. Zera walked closer to see what it said to the world. When she read it, she was confused. It didn't have any point. It was only one sentence with huge letters.

"**THOMAS, YOU ARE THE REAL LEADER."**

xXx

"What the hell is this mean?" Harriet asked after Zera ran back to her and told her about the text. Now, the remained group gathered around and stared at it.

"Maybe he is the boys' new leader." Sam suggested.

"But why would you compatible with Thomas?" asked Zera, referred Sam's tattoo.

"So, you know this Thomas?" Brenda asked. Harriet looked behind herself and saw the approaching blonde Crank. She cursed silently. She didn't want to name any of the boys to them.

"Yes. He is with us too. With WICKED."

"It makes sense. This thing is here for a while now. WICKED put us here, printed the sentence on the wall, so they have to own this Thomas too."  
>"Own?" Zera asked back with an angry tone. "Do you think WICKED own us?"<p>

"Seeing this text, you and your tattoos... then yes, I'm saying WICKED owns you. All of you. You are their little toys and you will do as they wish."

"She is right Zera." Harriet said firmly, before her Runner could do something really stupid "We can play and pretend we are free and have our will but the truth is we are lab rats and nothing more. And you know that too." Zera wanted to say something, but Harriet cut her short "Don't! I had enough for a day and the others too. Let's go sleep and tomorrow, we will continue the journey. I don't want to her any word from you or anyone else."

As they went back to the ruined building where their temporary sleeping spot was, Harriet looked through her group to see everybody is here and fine. When she finished her mental list, realized somebody was missing. Why the problems never stop coming?

Where the hell was Theresa?

xXx

Harriet was angry. And that wasn't the right word for that. The most important girl was missing and she freaked out. She wanted to send out the Runners into the night to find Theresa, but Jorge said no to it. He said the city was really dangerous at night, because they were not the only Cranks here. And the others – as he said – weren't as friendly as they were. So Harriet had to let it go and accept the fact that probably Theresa is finished her life like Crank-snack.

As the night fell totally and the girls welcomed the normal sleeping with full stomach, Zera was thinking before the tiredness pushed her into the already waiting dreams' arms.

Brenda and Jorge said nobody was here before them. This means the boys weren't ahead of them, but behind them. This made sense. If they want to kidnap Thomas, they need to be ahead of the boys: they find a base camp somewhere and simply wait for them and take an action. According to the text, Thomas is important for a reason, so they definitely need to reach this city as well. Maybe she could use this information. Leave a mark or something... but at this point her brain shut down and Zera fell into a deep sleep.

xXx

At the next morning, when the girls packed up their belongings and ate their breakfast, Zera could escape from the watching eyes and looked for a suitable wall. She needed a building which will not avoid Newt's gaze. Maybe he will not spot it, but she had to try. When she found her wall, which was dirty, but had a lighter colour, Zera went to an old fireplace and grabbed a piece of coal from it. Walked back to the wall, and quickly wrote a few words on it. She had to hurry, so she couldn't write a mile long letter and she also didn't dare to be clear: she was afraid if she writes "We will kidnap and kill Thomas, watch out!" WICKED will interact and that would be horrible. When she was done, dropped the coal and ran back to her group and headed toward the mountains, silently hoping her message will alert Newt somehow.

_Newt – _

_Don't trust in the girls. Something horrible will happen and I'll have my part in it. Please, forgive me._


End file.
